Scottish Legal Jobs

An inquiry commissioned by the executive into competition in legal services recommended earlier this year that paid advocacy rights be granted to people who are not members of the Law Society of Scotland or Faculty of Advocates.

Legislation, which should have freed up this market, has lain dormant on the statute book for 16 years. Sections 25 to 29 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) 1990 abolished the ban on non-lawyers applying for rights of audience in Scottish courtrooms. However, the sections were never acted upon, for reasons that remain unclear.

In 1990, ministers at Westminster gave an undertaking that the clauses would not be implemented until other reforms in the act, such as the introduction of solicitor-advocates, had been given time to "bed down".

Despite this undertaking, the fact that the measures have remained inactive for so long has provided ammunition for critics of the lawyers' "closed shop".

The same representation rights exist in England and Wales in relation to members of the Institute of Legal Executives and the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents.

The Office of Fair Trading and the Scottish Consumer Council are among the organisations which believe these rights should be extended north of the border.

Some industry observers claim the measure will make it easier and cheaper for the less well-off to secure access to justice. Solicitors and advocates can charge hundreds of pounds an hour, rates which critics believe would not be so high but for the monopoly enjoyed by the two main professional bodies. Another consequence may be to cut Scotland's hefty legal aid bill.

Critics, by contrast, point to the likelihood of a decline in the quality of representation and the prospect of the new measures imposing a burden on the courts.

Ministers intend to implement sections 25-29 early next year. Last week, the Justice Department distributed draft guidance for professional or other bodies which wish to make an application for representation rights.

This covers obligations such as stating how the public should be indemnified against losses they might suffer as a result of the exercise of these rights. It also outlines the scope of requirements covering matters such as training and practice rules.